A Chinese tourist’s TikTok video showing him being slashed with a knife by a travel agent in Phuket has prompted an apology from the Thai resort island’s governor – and a police investigation.
Footage of the attack seen by local media shows the 36-year-old man, identified as Fang Liqiao, arguing with a Thai woman at the travel agency, who is seen berating him, before kicking him and cutting his arms with a small knife.
The incident, which happened on February 1, comes as Thailand this week welcomed the first tour groups from China after it lifted pandemic restrictions and reopened its borders.
Recalling his ordeal on TikTok, Fang said his family had bought a tour package to the Similan Islands off the coast of southern Thailand’s Phang Nga province worth 9,000 baht (US$267) from the Blue Ocean Travel Company on January 29.
The tour operator had agreed to pick them up from their lodgings two days later, but ended up sending its representative to the wrong hotel so the family were unable to go on their trip, he said.
Fang went to the agency’s office to demand the return of the 5,000-baht deposit he’d paid, but was told by a woman owner that 1,600 baht (US$48) of it had already been handed over to the Similan Islands National Park as an entry fee.
The resulting altercation was captured on video, with local media reporting that the woman can be seen kicking the tourist and attacking him with a knife.
Fang and his family left Thailand on February 2.
Phuket governor Narong Woonciew on Tuesday met Li Chenglong, from China’s consular office on the resort island, to apologise for the attack, the Bangkok Post reported.
He told the consular official that the woman, who claimed she acted in self-defence, was charged with physical assault and carrying a weapon in public – punishable in Thailand by up to three months in jail or a fine of 60,000 baht (US$1,780).
Her travel company’s licence was also suspended for six months for damaging the image of Thailand’s tourism sector.
Li reportedly said that he hoped the Thai government would put adequate measures in place to avoid similar incidents in the future.
Tourism authorities in Thailand are aiming to attract at least 7 to 8 million Chinese visitors this year, after the world’s second-largest economy reopened following three years of pandemic isolation.
Thailand welcomed 11.15 million foreign visitors in 2022, a surge from around 428,000 the previous year when Covid-19 travel curbs were still in place. – SCMP
